Short Takes — 14

Hi Ho, the Witch is dead. The Giant is slain. Now things go back to NORMAL, right?

We survived the GREAT EL NINO of 2023. Crisis past, right?

The powerful El Niño weather event which along with climate change has helped push global temperatures to new highs, has ended, say scientists.

This was a lead story from the BBC this morning.

Climate change: El Niño ends with uncertainty over cooler future

— BBC 041624

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology says the Pacific Ocean has “cooled substantially” in the past week. The naturally occurring “El Nino” episode that began last June brought warmer waters to the surface of the Pacific, adding extra heat to the atmosphere.

But what happens next is uncertain, say researchers.

A string of recent global monthly high temperature records has led some scientists to fear that the world could be tipping into a new phase of even faster climate change.

Here’s the WEIRD and very revealing part about that sentence. Before you look, guess which scientist they are talking about. I am going to bet close to 100% of you guess James Hansen. You would be wrong.